承 (chéng): Cheng (c. 2000 BC), third of the legendary Flame Emperors 炎帝 descended from Shennong 神農|神农 Farmer God, to bear, to carry

承 (chéng) is a Chinese character meaning “to bear.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 了 (structural) and 三 (structural). It ranks #639 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 承 three hands 手 lifting a dead body 了. Its radical form 扌 (hand) appears in many related characters such as 手 (shǒu, hand), 打 (dǎ, hit, make), 找 (zhǎo, to look for).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. Cheng (c. 2000 BC), third of the legendary Flame Emperors 炎帝 descended from Shennong 神農|神农 Farmer God
  2. to bear
  3. to carry

Etymology & Origin

承

ideographicThree hands 手 lifting a dead body 了

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Practice writing 承 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 承

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
承认verbchéng rènto admit5
承诺verbchéng nuòto promise6
承受verbchéng shòuto bear5
承担verbchéng dānto undertake5
继承verbjì chéngto inherit6
承办verbchéng bànto undertake6
传承verbchuán chéngto pass on (to future generations)6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
承包商nounchéng bāo shāngcontractor
继承人nounjì chéng rénheir
奉承verbfèng chengto fawn on
承蒙verbchéng méngto be indebted (to sb)
继承权jì chéng quánright of inheritance
承载verbchéng zàito bear the weight
承包人nounchéng bāo réncontractor
阿谀奉承phraseē yú fèng chéngflattering and fawning (idiom)
轴承nounzhóu chéng(mechanical) bearing
承包verbchéng bāoto contract
坦承verbtǎn chéngto confess
承重verbchéng zhòng(usu. of a structural component of a building) to bear a load
承继verbchéng jìadoption (e.g. of a nephew as a son)
承租人chéng zū rénleaser
承受力chéng shòu lìtolerance
100
Total compounds
62
As first character
18
As last character
20
As middle character

承 appears in 100 compound words: 62 as the first character, 18 as the last, and 20 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 承 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

继jì
0.56644,403 co-occurrences
诺nuò
0.54816,350 co-occurrences
认rèn
0.51144,606 co-occurrences
担dān
0.48020,676 co-occurrences
袭xí
0.4143,810 co-occurrences
秉bǐng
0.4071,606 co-occurrences
轴zhóu
0.3982,038 co-occurrences
载zài
0.3974,962 co-occurrences
揽lǎn
0.394370 co-occurrences
橘jú
0.39011 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (11)

承前启后chéngqiánqǐhòuHSK 6+

to inherit the teachings of previous generations in order to inspire future actions

phrase
承上起下chéngshàngqǐxiàHSK 5+

to form a connecting link between the preceding and the following

phrase
承先启后chéngxiānqǐhòuHSK 6+

to inherit the teachings of previous generations in order to inspire future actions

phrase
滚珠轴承gǔn zhū zhóu chéngHSK 7+

ball bearing

phrase
满口应承mǎn kǒu yìng chéngHSK 5+

to promise readily

phrase
女继承人nǚ jì chéng rénHSK 5+

inheritress

phrase
一脉相承yīmàixiāngchéngHSK 7+

to come down in one continuous line; can be traced to the same origin

phrase
子承父业zǐchéngfùyèHSK 5+

to inherit his father's business or profession

phrase
阿谀奉承ēyúfèngchéngHSK 6+

flattering and fawning; sweet-talking

phrase

Showing 9 of 11 idioms containing 承.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

他承起袖子,开始认真地打扫房间。

tā chéng qǐ xiù zǐ , kāi shǐ rèn zhēn dì dǎ sǎo fáng jiān .

He rolled up his sleeves and began to clean the room thoroughly.

99 健康网Feb 2026

孕期喝了酒对宝宝有没有影响?丈夫劝酒也要承担责任吗

yùn qī hē le jiǔ duì bǎo bǎo yǒu méi yǒu yǐng xiǎng ? zhàng fū quàn jiǔ yě yāo chéng dān zé rèn ma

Does drinking alcohol during pregnancy affect the baby? Does the husband also be responsible for persuading him to drink?

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...柯建铭25年来始终站在第一线 完成交棒传承致上最高敬意

. . . 柯 jiàn míng 2 5 nián lái shǐ zhōng zhàn zài dì yī xiàn wán chéng jiāo bàng chuán chéng zhì shàng zuì gāo jìng yì

... Ke Jianming has always stood on the front line for 25 years, completing the handover of the baton and expressing the highest respect

鉅亨網 - 財經新聞、全球指數、股市報價、商品行情、理財投資Feb 2026

...托邦AI报告震撼华尔街 支付与软体股全面承压

. . . tuō bāng A I bào gào zhèn hàn huá ěr jiē zhī fù yǔ ruǎn tǐ gǔ quán miàn chéng yā

... Topia AI report shocked Wall Street, and payment and software stocks were under pressure across the board

Irna ChineseFeb 2026

88%的阿拉伯民众反对承认以色列政权

8 8 de ā lā bó mín zhòng fǎn duì chéng rèn yǐ sè liè zhèng quán

88% of the Arab population opposes the recognition of the Israeli regime

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

索马利兰盼国际承认 愿意允美国运用矿产及军事基地

suǒ mǎ lì lán pàn guó jì chéng rèn yuàn yì yǔn měi guó yùn yòng kuàng chǎn jí jūn shì jī dì

Somaliland hopes for international recognition of its willingness to allow the United States to use minerals and military bases

Tatoeba

不遵守承诺是可耻的。

Bù zūnshǒu chéngnuò shì kěchǐ de.

It is a shame not to keep your promise.

Tatoeba

但他没有遵守承诺。

Dàn tā méiyǒu zūnshǒu chéngnuò.

But, he didn't keep his promise.

Tatoeba

凶手承认了自己的犯罪。

Xiōngshǒu chéngrèn le zìjǐ de fànzuì.

The murderer confessed his crime.

Tatoeba

父母教育我要遵守承诺。

Fùmǔ jiàoyù wǒ yào zūnshǒu chéngnuò.

My parents teach me to abide by my promises.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced chéng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 承 (chéng) mean in Chinese?
承 (chéng) primarily means "to bear." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #639 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 承 have?
承 is written with 8 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 承?
The radical associated with 承 is 扌 (hand). This radical appears in many characters related to hand.
What are the components of 承?
承 is composed of: 了 (structural), 三 (structural). Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 承?
Common words with 承 include: 承认 (chéng rèn, "to admit"); 承诺 (chéng nuò, "to promise"); 承受 (chéng shòu, "to bear"); 承担 (chéng dān, "to undertake"); 继承 (jì chéng, "to inherit"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 承 (chéng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation chéng: 成 (to succeed), 程 (rule), 城 (city, wall), 诚 (honest), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 承 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 承 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 承 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.